By now you have all heard about it. A 19-year-old woman in Saudi Arabia was gang-raped by a group of seven men who attacked both her and the man she was with -- and the woman was sentenced to 90 lashes for meeting with the man! When the woman appealed her sentence, a Saudi court more than doubled it.
No one inside or outside the Saudi Arabian legal justice system disputes the fact that the woman had been brutally attacked. But after international outrage, the Saudi government over the weekend sought to explain why the woman was sentenced to over 180 lashes.
(It should be noted here that, after the appeal, the men who attacked her also had their sentences increased, from the initial sentence of 10 months to five years, to two to nine years in prison, by the Qatif General Court.)
The explanation for the severe lashing sentence given to the woman? The Saudi Arabian government said Saturday that the woman had an "illegitimate relationship" with a man who was not her husband, and that both "exposed themselves to this heinous crime."
In Saudi Arabia, it should be explained, people are subject to pure Sharia rulings -- strict Islamic law. The Sharia is the official legal interpretation and application of the Qur'an. In other words, it is the legal pronouncement of What God Wants.
What God Wants in this case is for a 19-year-old woman to receive more than 180 lashes because she fell in love with a man, allegedly went with him to a beach after dark, where, according to the Saudi government statement, the group of attackers "saw her in a compromising situation, her clothes on the ground. The men at this point assaulted her and the man with her."
The Saudi statement went on to say that the woman knew that being alone with a man who wasn't her husband was illegal, "and therefore she violated the covenant of marriage." The statement did not say, however, that the multiple brutal rape took place in March 2006, when the young lady was 18 and that at the time the woman was engaged -- not married. Apparently this circumstance makes no difference to God, or to the Saudi court.
I am so sickened when I hear of any situation or event that involves violence, one human being upon another...but I find it especially repugnant when that violence is perpetrated upon a person based on the idea of someone in authority of What God Wants.
Does God -- as interpreted by Sharia law -- really want this 19-year-old woman to suffer over 180 lashes because she was brutally attacked and gang raped, allegedly while making love to a man on the beach? What kind of God wants that???? Does God say 'No!' to an 18-year-old girl who simply fell in love -- or lust?
To make matters worse here, the young woman claims that she was forced to meet privately with the man. There are allegations that she simply wanted to retrieve some photographs from him since she was now engaged -- and that he forced her to meet with him in order to get them back, leading to the incident on the beach.
However the two happened to be there, whatever bad judgment may have been used (if it was 'bad judgment' at all), is it really our thought that the decisions made here are not What God Wants? What kind of a God spews anger and retribution in the form of 180 lashes upon an 18-year-old girl who is accused of doing nothing more than take off her clothes and make love with someone?
(And while we are on the subject, what does the Sharia say about What God Wants with regard to an 18-year-old MAN who does the same thing???)
And while we are on the subject of God's desires...what kind of God wants the State of Texas to kill more people intentionally through the death penalty than the rest of the United States combined?
What is going on here? What kind of a God do we think we have? Even presuming that an unmarried 18-year-old woman deserves punishment for making love to a man on the beach in the middle of the night -- would not suffering a brutal multiple rape be considered punishment enough? Could not the Saudi court see past its strict interpretation of Shari law and arrive at a place of mercy or compassion in this case?
It is small wonder that people in many Western nations are leery, to say the least, about Islam and Islamic law and some Islamic countries and radical Islamic terrorists who want the whole world to live under Islamic law. This is the law they want the world to be ruled by?
And what about fundamentalist Christians who support the death penalty based on their understanding that this is What God Wants? Does God really want us to purposefully kill people as a means of stopping people from purposefully killing people? Is this how we deter people from a certain behavior? By exhibiting the behavior ourselves?
What gives here? What is wrong?
Some ideas about this on Thursday...
-- described by her attorney as a former friend from whom she was retrieving a photograph.
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Re -michelle | November 28, 2007 9:45 PM
How can anyone not actually feeling the feelings shared between two people ever know the answer to that question.
** As I said we are not talking about Love, we are talking about a natural function of the human body, that we are currently refering to as "sex" which is in and of itself incorrect. The biggest problem with human beings (especially between male and female) is communication. We do not even speak the same language, and what we have is a lack of communication. So much so, that we are Hell bent in killing each other over it, because we cannot have the same perception (and perception is everything!)
Sometimes, not even the people feeling the feelings themselves know the answer. How can an outsider possibly answer?
** That is exactly the problem. And that problem even exists within yourself! "Our battle is not of the flesh, but of the Spirit" (Yeshuah) Your personal pespective and decisions in that never ending raging battle can indeed be deadly, especially to yourself and those around you! And you don't think God has a sense of humor ? (hah!)
How can someone outside the relationship answer whether it was a relationship based on need fulfillment or whether it was an authentic expression of joy being created together?
** That has been the unanswered question since the beginning of Time ... perhaps before the beginning of Time. If as we continue to suggest here, that we are ALL ONE body, existing within One uni-Verse/Word, then that suggests that we are all part of God wrestling or playing with Him/Her Self. You think that perhaps God just gets bored sometime, and wants some excitement in the God Life? The difference between us making amusement and God making amusement is, God said "Let it be" ... and it is!
Love shared between two people is such a sacred ground.
** How about Love shared for ALL ? (remember we are not talking about copulation here!)
I don't want to be the one to enact the law that says someone's feelings of love are wrong. I would honestly feel as if I were going against God's will in doing so. God is Love. Don't we agree?
** Absolutely ! Now if we can come to a definition that the entire uni-Verse can agree with, we just might have peace in this world (BTW, do you think "What God Really Wants" is peace in this world of His-Story, that the outcome has already been written in Word ?) The prophesies will come to pass, exactly as written...but not as we think! (perspective is a bitch!)
LUV 2 ALL
Wisdum
Maybe we ALL just need a little different perspective
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIUCTbi_XZs
LUV 2 ALL
Wisdum
Theocracy at work - someone (or a group) decides what God wants and makes it the Law of the land.
Wisdum,
There is no white flag flying here. Yet, I call for a truce. We shall have to agree to disagree as I am unwilling to define or declare or dictate what constitutes the single and proper category of feelings of love for someone else. As long as someone's definition of love doesn't hurt anyone, I will never agree that my personal opinion matters.
Truce.
Love and Peace,
Michelle
p.s. I liked the link.
Ahhhh! The plot thickens. This is the latest CNN info on the 19 year old rape/19 Lashes case. Apparently the male partner of the coupling/"Love making" on the beach was not her fiancee, but a previous suitor (I guess with a camera, or one of them with a camera!)
She not only was raped by the notorious seven, but they also raped her a second time! It looks like the girl was trying to get the photographs back, to cover her past history, and conceal it from her new beau, and their possible future together. (don't know if any of them has showed up on youtube yet, stay tuned!)
Due to her and her lawyer (and the rest of the world)protesting so vehemently to the judicial punishment(also known as contempt of court)the judge inceased the sentence to 200 lashes and 2 years in jail for the young girl! (I guess they really pissed him off!) Apparently the Supreme Ruler of the Land (or whatever they call him)has stated that he may look into the rulings, since they seemed a bit extreme (ya think !)
"What's wrong with this picture ?" ... "Follow the money trail!"
LUV 2 ALL
The plot thickens??? Stay tuned???? Some of us appear to be so deeply esconsed in trying to create an Enquirer story out of a tragedy that they forget what this story is really about and they forget what has outraged most of civilized world and that is the horrific and brutal rape of a young girl against her will by six or seven brute men by brute force and a brute government which beat a young, helpless girl simply for being a victim.
Some of us appear so focused on the sex act and fail to realize that the government itself punishes all people harshly, giving men and women jail time and hundreds of lashes simply for associating with each other and not just for sexual acts. Some of us are not taking into account the gross extremism of this government and noting that an attorney who objected to the severity of the punishment was removed from the case and his license revoked simply for questioning the "authority."
Some of us, who are mostly male, by the way, are forgetting that a government who forces its women to uphold to an unreal standard of virtue, and a different standard than they uphold the men to, is nothing more than subjugation of the female gender so they can continue to enforce a sexist society and reap the benefits that come with rulership.
I have a Muslim friend and I am well aware of the oppressive and manipulative tactics by the dominant male culture to keep these women under "rein." And, it's not pretty. They are not allowed to show the cheeks of their face much less take a swim in the ocean because some crazy dominating male doesn't want another man to look at her.
All of it sickens me and so does this "enquiring mind" mentality.
Love and Peace,
Michelle
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